As is well known, a cell contains three compartments, the membrane, the cytoplasm and cell nuclei. The cell membrane is the external interface of the cell, the cell nucleus is the functional centre of the cell and the cytoplasm is the area in between. Chromatin is a structure within the cell nuclei.
The chromatin is the active part of the nuclei and its structure is representative of activity within the nuclei. The quantitative analysis of this structure can give an indication of the state of the cell. In order for the nuclei to be successfully visualised it first has to be subjected to various laboratory methods and the image captured. The image then needs to be segmented to identify and separate out the nuclei so the nuclei can be individually analysed.
It can be appreciated that methods allowing the characterisation of cell nuclei have drug discovery, clinical and other medical applications.